It's generally less problematic to wait until arrival and using your debit or credit card in a local cash machine, which can be found everywhere in most towns. In recent years the official exchange rates have been close to market value, so official exchange rates can provide amounts similar to, or better than, unofficial ones. The airports in Beijing and Shanghai have cash machines which accept most international debit/credit cards.

Be sure to check for the Plus or Cirrus
symbols (whichever your bank supports), as there are many ATMs which are not linked to international networks and may retain your card, a very unpleasant prospect.

New rules to control foreign investment in China's property market have been agreed, following concern that surging foreign speculation in the market is forcing up house prices.

Shanghai-based China Business News reported
on July 17, 2006 that six government bodies including the Ministry of Construction and Ministry
of Commerce have signed an agreement on a rule
to regulate overseas capital in the property
market.

Foreign firms or individuals will have to use their
real names when buying residential houses. And foreigners will not be allowed to buy residential housing that is not for their "own use or own habitation."

"The measure provides a premise for the government to impose a property tax, which is very popular in most developed countries," said Xu Dianqing, professor with the China
Center for Economic Research of Peking University.

If you are a newcomer in China, you may find it difficult to locate a house for yourself. The Beijing Housing Service Corporation for Diplomatic Missions will provide free consult service on office or residence housing, including recommending to foreign institutions suitable candidate houses when necessary.

You may also rely on trust-worthy housing intermediaries to do the job for you. When purchasing houses, you need to check whether the real estate developer has the full set of formalities for the sale.

The official currency of the People's Republic of China is the renminbi (人民币 "People's Money"), often abbreviated RMB. The base unit of this currency is the
yuan (元), international currency code CNY. All prices in China are given in yuan, usually
either as ￥ or 元.

The yuan is pegged around ¥7.2-7.3 to the US dollar as of mid January 2008. The official subdivisions of the yuan are the jiao (角), at 10 jiao to the yuan, and the fen (分) at 10 fen
to the jiao. A coin worth ￥0.10 will thus say 壹角 ("1 jiao"), not "10 fen", on it. But in colloquial Mandarin, nobody ever speaks of yuan; the standard term is kuai (块), and the
jiao is also dubbed the mao (毛) instead. The fen remains the same, so a price like ￥3,75 would thus be read as "3 kuai 7 mao 5 fen" (although the trailing unit is usually omitted).

The Chinese government has set up the government scholarships to finance students and scholars in the rest of the world to study and do research in Chinese universities,
enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese people and peoples of other countries and promote Sino-foreign exchanges
and cooperation in such fields as education, science and technology, culture, economy and trade.

According to the agreements or programs
reached between the Chinese government and governments of other countries and international organizations, the Ministry of Education is responsible to grant the
government scholarships and entrusts the Chinese Scholarships Council (CSC) with the enrollment and management of daily affairs concerning international students in China who study on the Chinese government scholarships.